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Boutin is the leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Parti Chrétien-démocrate), a social conservative Christian-democratic party, which is associated with the greater UMP union party, led by Nicolas Sarkozy.
In 1993, Boutin founded the anti-abortion NGO Alliance pour les droits de la vie (ADV) (English: Alliance for Human Life), considered the largest pro-life organization in France. The same year, she became a consultant for the Pontifical Council for the Family headed by Cardinal Lopez-Trujillo. In 1998, Boutin became somewhat famous because of a five hour speech in opposition to the PACS domestic partnership plan, arguing that its adoption by the government would encourage homosexuality. She held a Bible during the speech, an image which would later become associated with her.
In 2002, Boutin who had been a member of the UDF party, joined the UMP when it was founded. In a UMP rally that same year, where Boutin spoke, ACT UP Paris protested with a banner calling Boutin homophobic.
In 2006, Boutin supported the "global license" flat-fee authorization for sharing of copyrighted files over the Internet in a heated parliamentary debate on the DADVSI law. She also has been an advocate for a guaranteed minimum income, as well as expanded housing rights (Droit au logement). She has considered the situation of prisons in France to be a scandal and has argued for a drastic reduction of inmates as well as improving their life-conditions.
In December 2006, Boutin announced that she would not be a candidate for the 2007 French Presidential election and pledged her support for the Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
On 18 May 2007, after Sarkozy's victory in the presidential election, Boutin was named Minister of Housing and the City in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. She has taken as advisors the pro-life activist Christine de Chefdebien, controversial for a 1992 anti-abortion occupation of a hospital, and the priest Jean-Marie Petitclerc.
Boutin has a liberal view on condom use in Africa to prevent AIDS, saying that contraceptives were necessary, appearing to contradict an earlier view by Pope Benedict XVI. She has however been critical of contraception outside of the AIDS context in Africa.
"I think that it's possible... I think it is possible. I think it more especially as I know that the sites that speak of this problem are the sites that have the greatest numbers of visits.... And so, I tell myself, I who am extremely sensitive ... to the new techniques of information and communication, that this expression of the mass of the people cannot be without any truth. I'm not telling you that I adhere to that position, but let's say that, nevertheless, I'm questioning myself a bit on this question."
Minister of Housing and Urban : 2007-2009.
Electoral mandates
National Assembly of France
Member of the National Assembly of France for Yvelines : 1986-2007 (Became minister in 2007). Elected in 1986, reelected in 1988, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007.
General Council
President of the General Council of Yvelines (interim) : May–July 2009.
Vice-president of the General Council of Yvelines : 1994-2009 (Resignation). Reelected in 2001, 2008.
General councillor of Yvelines : 1982-2009 (Resignation). Reelected in 1988, 1994, 2001, 2008.
Municipal Council
Mayor of Auffargis : 1980-1983.
Municipal councillor of Auffargis : 1977-1983
Deputy-mayor of Rambouillet : 1983-2001. Reelected in 1989, 1995.
Municipal councillor of Rambouillet : 1983-2001. Reelected in 1989, 1995.
Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:People from Indre Category:French Roman Catholics Category:Democratic and Social Centre (France) politicians Category:Union for French Democracy politicians Category:Christian Democratic Party (France) politicians Category:21st-century French politicians Category:French pro-life activists Category:Government ministers of France Category:Mayors of Auffargis Category:French women mayors Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists
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